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'Buck must stop somewhere over snow havoc on roads'

By Ray Coombes
January 22, 2010

Ray Coombes of Wilmot Close in Binfield gives his opinion in the aftermath of the snow and possibly more on the horizon.

You cannot imagine my anger being a Bracknell Forest Borough Council resident when I read the article where the council’s chief executive implies that ‘there was little more that could have been done to improve the situation’.

I think the reporter rather let him off the hook and should have pressed him further on the funding and performance related issues.

The CE should hold his head in shame and taken the opportunity to apologise to all the residents for his failure to provide a reasonable service and not have escaped accountability.

After all, the buck needs to stop somewhere.

When you compare the neighbour unitary authorities and Surrey, one of the nearest council councils, it is generally accepted that when compared to the efforts of Bracknell Forest they all performed well and managed to keep the network clear.

Having worked in both the public and private sectors in highways and transportation and currently on the network infrastructure on the Highways Agency M25 DBFO Joint Venture Contract, I do have some experience in providing an acceptable service, forward planning and winter maintenance.

I understand the council’s need to keep the strategic routes open, namely the A322, although in Bracknell’s case this is only in part of the M3/M4 network corridor.

The council was totally caught out on December 21/22 resulting in the abandonment of numerous vehicles all over the network but mostly in the areas where descents and inclines were located. Those, with a combination of deep snow and ice, were all contributing factors, although in some minor cases driver impatience played a part.

The CE should have ventured out on to the borough’s network on December 21/22 last year and January 6/7 this year as he would have seen total gridlock of the borough.

Yet again the descents and inclines were not targeted sufficiently and so for those willing to attempt a journey to work escaping parts of the borough was impossible.

Once I eventually managed to escape the minor roads and Bracknell’s area on January 8 the other authority’s roads were totally acceptable.

I reside in Binfield which was totally cut off and would have greatly benefitted from just a snow plough to remove the depth of snow on the local and estate roads.

Perhaps the council’s CE should have suggested that all Binfield residents should drive 4 x 4 vehicles which is just as silly as his statement that ‘a further 10 to 15 more gritters and 60 extra staff would be required adding further increase to the Council Tax charge of some £3million’.

When assessing network needs and making a business case it is very easy to jump to the borough’s conclusion that money and resources are the only solution.

It is well documented that both central and local government staff numbers have substantially increased during the Labour administration and that terms and conditions.

Has he actually considered costing what the adaption of the current fleet of refuge/road sweeps and other large council vehicles to accommodate the fitment of snow ploughs, and additional training of the existing work force to provide rota cover so these vehicles can be constantly on the network?

The depth of snow was a major contributing factor and, as stated in the article, when temperatures render gritting ineffectual the removal of deep snow is still a priority.

Regarding refuse collections, once again the borough has totally failed to undertake this necessary task.

Other authorities have arranged for collectors to work longer hours and even Saturdays to clear the backlog.

The borough should not be able to hide behind suggesting the collectors are all contributing to the gritting effort or clearing footways or even health and safety criteria.

The weather was not unprecedented, most authorities were proactive not reactive like Bracknell.

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No one was clearing our roads in Sandhurst and our bins and christmas trees are still waiting for collection. .Our green bins were not empied for a month and the blue one was supposed to go on Friday but its still here on Sunday, long after the snow has gone.Even Bracknell tip was closed so we couldnt take our own rubbish away. My daughter works in London and said she had no trouble with the roads until she came to Sandhurst. Where does the residents of Sandhurst council tax go.

sarasara, sandhurst
24/01/2010 at 11:11

I think the overall message of the article is pretty much correct, although I would point out that it's also a bit sensationalist in places. I agree that the gritting was poor in comparison with everywhere else I saw locally, and we need to pull our socks up.

However, Binfield was never, ever, cut off in any way. There were no buses, but roads were drivable - as long as the idiots stayed off them, of course. If you were able to, you could walk to Bracknell (40 mins for most, I reckon, I manged it in 30). I can't imagine navigating a snow plough past the cars parked on the road in my street, the thought of ploughing residential streets is crazy - think of the driveways and other accesses that would have a huge ridge of snow in front of them! I'd not be happy about driving over a foot-high pile of snow!

I loved the fact that I saw so many more people out and about - actually walking from A to B instead of driving. There was community spirit with residents of many closes and roads getting together to clear snow together.

As I understand it, many people in OTHER areas have still not had all their refuse collected, but all my landfill and recycling was collected this week. At least it's not the summer and so there are fewer pests. I think Bracknell have done well with waste, I was pleased to hear that when the lorries couldn't run, the refuse staff were clearing the streets in town!